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TIL Hennig Brand, a German alchemist in the 1660s, was convinced he could distill gold from human urine. After amassing 1,500 gallons of urine and boiling it, he discovered the element phosphorus.

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9A6B TIL that American company Bechtel took over the privatization of water in Bolivia in 1999 because the Bolivian government was too corrupt. Water prices subsequently raised from $5/month to $20/month for an income of $1000/year.
wXG7 TIL pawn stars is completely staged
l7E4A TIL that Hustler Magazine used to sell Scratch-n-Sniff porn mags
l7JQA TIL: Mochi is highly cohesive and adhesive, and easy to choke on causing many fatal suffocation accidents in the elderly aged 65 years or older.
a84bL TIL that in 1976, the BBC refused to broadcast most races of the F1 season, because the backmarker team Surtees was sponsored by Durex. This meant that the British almost completely missed the season where Englishman James Hunt became World Champion because of a sponsor